Bone Orchard Blues

By Erin Lee

Jimmy Williams has the bone orchard blues. After losing his grandma to a chiseler and being left with the ranch's worst crowbait, the only thing he wants to do is pull in his horns and be left alone. But that won't be easy with investor Jenna Johnson in town. Set on a plan to acquire Williams' land, she's plumb clear about why she's around.

Until one night when a tornado even bigger than Jenna rolls through: the generator goes out and the two strangers are stranded with a long wait for dawn. What happens when a cowboy pulls in the reigns, drops the blues, and lays his claim to everything?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Crazy Ink
• Release date: Feb 10, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201361907

Erin Lee

Erin Lee lives in Queensland, Australia and has been working with children for over 25 years. She has worked in both long day care and primary school settings and has a passion for inclusive education and helping all children find joy in learning. Erin has three children of her own and says they have helped contribute ideas and themes towards her quirky writing style. Her experience working in the classroom has motivated her to write books that bring joy to little readers, but also resource educators to help teach fundamental skills to children, such as being safe, respectful learners.

Book preview

Chapter One

Six months ago, 2019

Jimmy

He cursed his life – everything about it. It had been darn near twenty years since he’d had a stroke of good luck and never once, aside from Sara, had he complained about it out loud. A broken generator with tornado warnings was the last thing he needed. Sure, he could have planned better for another round of storms, but Christ. He was one person. And running a ranch on his own for years in tornado alley had him tired. At this point, he spent most of his time wishing his was the name on that last stone in the bone orchard next to his granddad’s. But it didn’t matter. He had to at least do his best to save the animals. There’d be plenty of room for regret once the storm had come and gone. Like the fiery redhead who’d blown in and now only sent letters—Belle—and the mini storms before and after her, it wasn’t like much would change. He knew that. And, in some messed up way, took comfort in it.

Entirely annoyed with the whole situation, he pulled the last bale from the pile over his head and tossed it toward Eloise—his grandmother’s favorite mare—before turning his attention to the stranger. Why any woman would even attempt to march through the ranch in stilettos was a mystery to him. She sure as hell wasn’t from Lawton or any of the surrounding cities or counties either. If he had to put money on it, she came from the big city: the first sign of danger. Just like Belle. Here to rip out hearts and write about it later. Just what you need, another pen pal. Wiping his gloves on his jeans and pulling the right one off with his teeth, he turned to her, nodded, and said, Can I help you, ma’am? He wasn’t gonna bother with his usual Howdy, ma’am. He knew trouble when he saw it. He’d learned more than a decade ago that you couldn’t save a woman from a black bear if she was determined to seek out danger. He spit gritty dirt at the ground and wasn’t about to apologize for it.

I’m looking for Jimmy Williams. Jenna Kelley from Kelley, Carlson & Jenson Properties, she said, standing at the edge of the barn and squishing her nose up like a prune.

His heart sank. She’d just confirmed it. This was the moment his grandmomma had been avoiding since Ray Wilson came around and swindled her for last year’s crop after all that work recovering from Granddad’s death and retirement from the circuit. He knew exactly who Jenna was. The tiny, blonde-haired bombshell standing on his land scrunching up her nose at the smell of it was here to take it. But that wasn’t going to happen. Tornado warnings or not, there was going to be a hell of a showdown. He knew too well, too, what happened when you gave your heart to a woman from out of town.

Yep. You got him. And you can leave now. We ain’t interested. He wasn’t sure if he was talking about the land or himself in the third person.

She bent down, exposing a tight line of perky cleavage like it’d matter something to him, and reached into a black leather briefcase. I’m sorry, but you must be mistaken. Our firm already owns this place. Part of it, anyway.

Kicking a stray bale, he cracked his knuckles and moved toward her. Reaching out his filthy hand, he grabbed the papers. Scanning them, he got the gist. He’d known the house was in foreclosure for weeks now. Everyone in town did. But the pasture and outbuilding land? That was different.

Land’s not for sale.

He figured she’d gotten her wires crossed. Too busy with the clubs back in New York or on fancy dates with pretty guys who bothered to shave every morning. She had to know that the land and the portion of it where the ranch sat weren’t the same things. His grandmomma had been sure to have it subdivided when Ray left town before chasing him to Colorado. For as naive as the old woman was, she wasn’t the type to roll over easy; that wasn’t the Williams’ way.

Didn’t say it was. But, I’ll leave you to the paperwork. I hear a storm’s coming through. I’ll be back in the morning.

She’d heard correct. But she’d missed the city girl memo that the biggest tornado in the county was only a few hours away at best guess. It’ll be here soon. You can go back to your fancy hotel room, but you ain’t flying out til this thing clears.

She looked at him, in his